(MENAFN- The Peninsula) On a day when most Qataris involved in the Asian Games failed to make an impact, the handball team continued their winning ways with their fourth consecutive victory.
After making a clean sweep of their preliminaries by beating Oman, the UAE and China, Qatar yesterday outduelled Kuwait 25-21 in their main round Group 1 match to keep their hopes alive of winning a medal.
Hamad Madadi excelled yet again with five goals for Qatar, while Vidal Borje and Youssef Benali scored four each. Abdulla Al Karbi, Rafael Capote and Bertrand Ronie had two each.
"It was a tough match in the end but a win is a win," said Qatar Handball Association President Ahmed Mohamed Al Shaabi.
"I felt we could have played much better, though," he added
Al Shaabi, however, was under no illusions about what lay ahead for Qatar.
"As far as I am concerned the real tournament for us begins tomorrow when we take on Bahrain. They could be our toughest opponents so far."
For the record, Bahrain thrashed Chinese Taipei 34-25, making today's Qatar-Bahrain match the decider as far as qualification to the semi-finals is concerned.
Al Shaabi insisted that while a medal would be welcomed, Qatar have a larger goal € to do well at the World Championship in Qatar in January. "All this is good preparation for the World Championship," he said.
After the first six minutes of action both teams were neck and neck but aided by Benali and Capote, Qatar suddenly pulled 8-5 clear before three consecutive goals from Sameh Al-Hajiri helped Kuwait bounce back.
But Capote and Benali then restored Qatar's advantage and soon they were 14-10 ahead which they increased to 16-11 at half-time.
The Kuwaitis appeared stuck in one-way traffic for a considerable time as Qatar enjoyed a whopping 22-15 lead.
But they strung together a series of fine moves to inch closer at 23-18 before Madadi and Ronnie put the issue beyond doubt with a goal each in the dying minutes.
"I enjoy the thrill of a challenge and I am glad to have helped Qatar win a key match," Madadi said. "I hope to contribute tomorrow against Bahrain too".
In other action, Qatar's poor run continued with several participants getting eliminated in the team and individual events.
The Qatar women's fencing team fell to a crushing 45-4 defeat at the hands of Hong Kong in the foil competition.
In men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol qualification, Oleg Engachev could only manage the 11th spot, while Riaz Khan was 22nd.
In the Rapid Fire team competition, Qatar finished last out of six teams.
Qatar's sailors were also languishing way behind their rivals. Mahmoud Al Sharshani was seventh in the Laser class after three races, while Ghanim Al Suwaidi was ninth out of 10 participants after four races in the Optimist Class.
In squash, Qatar were beaten 2-1 by Hong Kong in the men's team event. Although Abdulla Al Tamimi prevailed over Lee Ho Yin in a five-game marathon, both his team-mates fell to crushing 3-0 defeats.
In tennis, however, Jabor Al Mutawa won his opening men's singles match against Nepal's Bhushan Bajracharya with a 6-0, 6-1 scoreline.
But Ali Al Sayegh and Shannan Zayid were not so lucky in the doubles as they were thrashed 6-0, 6-1 by Hong Kong's Wong Chun Hun and Yeung Pak Long.
Beach volleyballers, Tiago Santos and Santos Pereira, meanwhile defeated the Cambodian duo of Khork Sim and Lim Sanat 23-21, 21-15.
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